BBC to spend £1m on portable World Cup studio

The broadcaster won the bid for the right to use the roof of the hospital as the studio's location. The total cost of the studio including the bid for the location, the construction and the satellite transmission, is estimated to be nearly £1m.

The pentagon-shaped glass studio will be about 1,000 miles from the logistical centre of the World Cup in South Africa. It will provide the BBC presenters the Table Mountain as the backdrop during the football tournament, instead of the cityscape of Johannesburg.

The broadcaster will send around 270 staff and 17 commentators to cover the World Cup. The total costs for covering the Word Cup are expected to be at least £6m for the BBC. The Corporation has been criticised for spending too heavily on just one event.

The BBC has defended its move by saying that the portable studio could be dismantled after the World Cup and used elsewhere.